Lanta To Receive $1.4-million Grant To Make Renovations

September 10, 1985|by DAN PEARSON, The Morning Call

The Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority yesterday was awarded a $1.4-million federal grant that will cover 80 percent of a $1.7-million renovation of LANTA's garage and administrative offices in Allentown.

Except for incidental improvements, LANTA never has undertaken an overall improvement of the facilities it inherited when the authority purchased the Lehigh Valley Transit Co.'s assets 20 years ago. Greco said the project, already budgeted, includes improvements to the maintenance shops, complete renovation of the body and paint shops, total replacement of bus-washing equipment and relocation of space now occupied by the maintenance and operation departments.

Currently 58 buses and eight service vehicles are parked and maintenanced in the garage.

Of the additional $350,000 needed for the renovation, Greco said, $292,000 will come from the state and $58,000 will be provided evenly between Lehigh and Northampton counties. Although the state has not yet released the money for its share, Greco reported, it is included in the state capital budget.

"We hope to get the design work under way this fall, begin the renovation by early next summer, and complete the project in the spring of 1987," said Greco. Within the next month LANTA will seek redesign proposals and then solicit bids for construction.

Greco said its 10-member board is considering the possibility of dividing the project among numerous contractors and supervising the work itself.

LANTA has been the beneficiary of several UMTA grants this year. In June, the authority received a $1.6-million federal grant toward the purchase of 10 replacement buses for its aging fleet. Of the $400,000 needed additionally, $330,000 will come from the state and $70,000 from the sponsoring counties. The buses have not yet been ordered.